If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Welcome to CycloneFanatic.com. I notice you haven't taken the time to register yet, now is as good of time as any:)

Opening up our offense

Does anyone recall the play we ran right before our reverse to Horne for the TD yesterday?

Jarvis West, I believe it was, came around in motion prior to the snap. Barnett faked the read play up the middle to White, and then ran with it around the end, but he had West there with him for the option pitch if he needed it. It turned out that the defender went with West and so Barnett took it for about a 20 yd gain.

So why in the world do we not run this more often? It just gives us one more option for the defense to have to defend. Basically a triple option.

And you could still easily pass out of this as well. Fake it to both White up the gut and fake it to West coming around, and then throw it. Or, fake it to White up the gut, and hand it to West coming around.

I just think we'd be so much more succesful on offense if we could mix it up a bit. Defenses right now just have to key on White and Barnett. That's it. Especially in windy conditions when we're no threat to throw it at all.

We used to always bring JJ Moses or Lane Danielson around in motion. It made the defense respect the fact that we could give it to them at any time on a counter or reverse type play. It really put the pressure on the DE's to stay home, which opened up the middle that much more in the run game. I remember numerous times watching JJ and Lane take that play to the house. And it does not take away that WR in motion out of play. He can still run a passing route if we don't give them the ball on the end around. In fact, he can be a good safety valve out in the flat if the QB can't find anyone else open OR they can go deep on a wheel route type play.

It just seems we find a lot of success the few times we mix it up a bit. We just seem so vanilla 99% of the time. Numerous times yesterday I saw us run that read option play 3 times in a row for hardly any yards and then punting. It isn't too hard for defenses to key on your one RB and your QB. But it puts a lot more pressure on a defense if the QB keeps it, but he also then has the option to pitch it if the DE is right on top of him. Or if the DE crashes and the QB keeps it, it sure puts a lot of pressure on the CB or LB on that side of the field if he has to cover two guys, the QB and the pitch guy coming at them around the end.

I was just so excited to see that play yesterday, especially when Rhoads says we need to get the ball in the hands of Jarvis West more.... which is true. And then to follow that up with the reverse for the TD on the very next play... I was thinking that Herman finally was mixing it up a bit. And last week we ran that counter type running play a LOT for success against TT, and barely saw it at all yesterday?

If the "spread" is really an attempt to make a defense cover the entire field, as Herman says it is, then why don't we make them cover the entire field? KU had everyone on defense crashing on our RB and QB all game long in over pursuit. You cannot just continue to run in right into that over pursuit all the time and expect to get different results.

Re: Opening up our offense

Good points. I do think the playbook can/will open up as Barnett learns the offense even better. Hopefully things get creative during this bye-week. We will need to pull out all kinds of tricks to win the next 3 games.

Re: Opening up our offense

I'm honestly surprised we didn't run more option plays against KU. We were beating them on the edge and they have been killed all year long against the option. Earlier in the year Jantz was running options really well with White (see last TD in Iowa game) but we seem to have done away with that with Barnett. I wonder what the reasoning is.

Re: Opening up our offense

Everytime we tried to go wide yesterday with a WR screen, JB threw the ball into the ground. KU was stacking the box and some successfully completed WR screens would have torched them but JB just kept throwing the ball into the dirt. I don't know what was wrong with him but he needs to be able to complete those 99% of the time for this offense to work.

I don't think I'm alone when I say I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system.

Re: Opening up our offense

They really need to look at the run calls and mix it up a little. In the 3rd and 4th qtr most of the run plays by a RB went right and got very little yards. until they started milking the clock with Woody running left and got a pile of yards.

The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have--and that is a moral problem, not an economic one. - Paul Heyne

Re: Opening up our offense

Originally Posted by clonedude

Does anyone recall the play we ran right before our reverse to Horne for the TD yesterday?

Jarvis West, I believe it was, came around in motion prior to the snap. Barnett faked the read play up the middle to White, and then ran with it around the end, but he had West there with him for the option pitch if he needed it. It turned out that the defender went with West and so Barnett took it for about a 20 yd gain.

So why in the world do we not run this more often? It just gives us one more option for the defense to have to defend. Basically a triple option.

And you could still easily pass out of this as well. Fake it to both White up the gut and fake it to West coming around, and then throw it. Or, fake it to White up the gut, and hand it to West coming around.

I just think we'd be so much more succesful on offense if we could mix it up a bit. Defenses right now just have to key on White and Barnett. That's it. Especially in windy conditions when we're no threat to throw it at all.

We used to always bring JJ Moses or Lane Danielson around in motion. It made the defense respect the fact that we could give it to them at any time on a counter or reverse type play. It really put the pressure on the DE's to stay home, which opened up the middle that much more in the run game. I remember numerous times watching JJ and Lane take that play to the house. And it does not take away that WR in motion out of play. He can still run a passing route if we don't give them the ball on the end around. In fact, he can be a good safety valve out in the flat if the QB can't find anyone else open OR they can go deep on a wheel route type play.

It just seems we find a lot of success the few times we mix it up a bit. We just seem so vanilla 99% of the time. Numerous times yesterday I saw us run that read option play 3 times in a row for hardly any yards and then punting. It isn't too hard for defenses to key on your one RB and your QB. But it puts a lot more pressure on a defense if the QB keeps it, but he also then has the option to pitch it if the DE is right on top of him. Or if the DE crashes and the QB keeps it, it sure puts a lot of pressure on the CB or LB on that side of the field if he has to cover two guys, the QB and the pitch guy coming at them around the end.

I was just so excited to see that play yesterday, especially when Rhoads says we need to get the ball in the hands of Jarvis West more.... which is true. And then to follow that up with the reverse for the TD on the very next play... I was thinking that Herman finally was mixing it up a bit. And last week we ran that counter type running play a LOT for success against TT, and barely saw it at all yesterday?

If the "spread" is really an attempt to make a defense cover the entire field, as Herman says it is, then why don't we make them cover the entire field? KU had everyone on defense crashing on our RB and QB all game long in over pursuit. You cannot just continue to run in right into that over pursuit all the time and expect to get different results.

We're just too easy to defend right now IMO.

Our best plays of the day were the busted play on our own 3 yard line and the fake punt.

Why can't our receivers create some SPACE?!

It was really interesting when we simply handed the ball off to Woody at the game's end. Everyone in the stadium know we are going to run the ball, and the OFF line knocks holes. FOrget the zone read until we know how to run it.

All content owned by CycloneFanatic.com - All rights reserved 2005-09. By viewing this website you agree to the Terms of Service, Site Rules and Legal Disclaimer. The words, views, images and opinions expressed or provided by users do not reflect the opinions or views of CycloneFanatic.com or Iowa State University. The names, words, symbols, and graphics representing Iowa State University are trademarks and copyrights of the University protected by the trademark and copyright laws of the United States of America and other countries and are used on this web site under license from the University. Original site design, premise & construction by Jeremy Lind.